charityadventure

Craz and I have tried quite a few mirrors - when we're guiding rides we have a duty of care over our riders, we want to see them behind us (or infront of Craz!) and we need to watch out for cars (CARRRRRRRRR)

Craz tried a cute little set of mirrors that attach inside your glasses, very close to your eye - they were fun, but he's not stuck with them - so I guess they weren't that good.

Mirrors on the end of your handlebars interfere with those hideous contraptions that impede progress on some sustrans routes - the ones designed to break your elbows and slow down moped riders.

I've been testing out this...

http://www.bike-eye.co.uk/

and today was the first day I've really been thankful for them - I've had one on my bike for a while - they don't get in the way, so if you're not using it, you don't mind it being there. Today I rode without panniers and along major roads (my weekly 53 mile round trip commute to work). I could see traffic coming up behind me and knew when the last car was past and I could weave all over the road again! Fab fab fab - really helped - thank you bike-eye!

Useful for riding on the road I suppose but I don't want to see the big burly bloke careering at me out of control on singletrack with nowhere to go (ignorance is bliss)!

J

I did notice them on the C2C trip, I just thought they were vanity mirrors.

I can confirm that the little mirrors that stick onto the inside of your bike glasses lenses were indeed useless for me.

I guess that with a pair of glasses that weren't so snug (i.e. leaving an extra centimeter of space between your eyes and the lenses and wider than your face!) these would be great.

I've yet to feel the benefit of the Bike-Eye though. In fact, I've now removed it from the bike. I found that I was spending so much time trying to see what was behind me in it that I was weaving all over the place more than I would if I just turned and looked over my shoulder!

Next on my list of mirrors to try are the Topeak bar end mirrors that fit inside the bar ends and fold in and out as required.

Report on these to follow (when I've got some and tried them

I use a Blackburn Mirror on my tandem. It attaches with velcro, so is easy to detach or move out of the way when negotiating barriers etc.
I find it harder to balance the tandems weight whilst looking over my shoulder.

I don't use a mirror on my fast road bike as it defeats the idea of having a sub 18lb bike by adding extra weight and drag.
I guess a mirror wouldn't last two minutes off road.

Do panniers/rack packs get in the way of bike eyes?

AW

Just the pannier itself gets in the way of the Bike-Eye mirror on my bike! (the metal bit that stops your pannier bag from going into the wheel).

And mirrors last for ever on and off-road unless you have a tendency to keep falling off